AFL: Key Sydney pair Tom Hickey and Harry Cunningham could return after the bye as Swans upset Melbourne

Sydney coach John Longmire hopes to regain key pair Tom Hickey and Harry Cunningham after next week’s bye in a further boost to Saturday night’s rousing comeback defeat of Melbourne. The Swans overcame a quarter-time deficit to win for the fifth time this season, kicking the final four goals to enter their mid-season break with an 8-4 record despite Longmire admitting they had “made some mistakes”. The 12-point victory at the MCG was achieved not only without Hickey and Cunningham but also suspended superstar Lance Franklin, and comes a week after chasing down Richmond in similar fashion. “It was a beauty,” Longmire said of the triumph over the Demons. “Our blokes have been really good this year, as far as just keep going at it, keep going at the process and keep backing each other in – they’ve done it a number of times. “They just keep going at it (when) things aren’t going their way ... I just admire the players’ ability to be able to back themselves in and keep going and keep persisting.” Wayward goalkicking was largely to blame for this latest slow start, which left Sydney trailing at quarter-time for the seventh time in 12 rounds. The mood in the Swans’ camp would likely be far different going into the bye if not for the consecutive fightbacks from five-goal deficits against the Tigers and Melbourne. Reversing the result in those matches would have left their win-loss ledger even and meant they had suffered defeats in three straight matches and five of their past six. Instead, Longmire’s men emerged from a tough three-week block with even greater belief and proof of how big a threat they are. “We haven’t got everything right in the first half of the year. We’ve made some mistakes and let some games slip,” he said. “We knew going into these last two weeks, or three weeks – you go Carlton, Richmond, who are red hot, then Melbourne. We knew it was a tough challenge. “But our players set themselves and were able to win against some of the best, in-form teams, which has been important. “We’ve still got some improvement in us. We have a few days off now, then we go into a pretty tough post-bye (clash with Port Adelaide) – it doesn’t get any easier.” Cunningham (abdominal) is training well and tracking ahead of Hickey, whose toe injury followed his knee setback and means he’s made only five appearances in 2022, including playing just two of Sydney’s last nine games. “We’re hoping to get (Hickey) right, to get some training under his belt,” Longmire said. “He missed the five weeks with the knee, then the toe ... we’ll be trying to get him going, because he’s clearly an important player for us.”